Federal Prison

A Newport Beach man could be sentenced up to 63 months in federal prison, depending on his criminal past and if he accepts his responsibility for defrauding two companies out of nearly $3 million, federal court records show. Mitchell Keith Kleinman, 45, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court’s Charlotte division in North Carolina last month to conspiracy and money laundering for his part in a scheme to overbill Georgia Pacific, a manufacturing company out of Atlanta, and Hickory Springs Manufacturing Co. out of North Carolina.

Two couples accused of fraud Orange County federal prosecutors over the last month have filed charges against 13 defendants, including two Newport-Mesa couples, accused of committing bankruptcy fraud, officials said. Mark Steven Manderson, 49, and his wife, Leslee Jean Conner Manderson, 44, of Newport Beach, were charged with concealing substantial assets and making false statements in connection with their bankruptcy case, according to a news release issued by the U.S. attorney's office on Thursday.

Many an inebriated college student may have thought about how good tacos wrapped in a Doritos shell would taste, but a prison inmate is suing Irvine-based Taco Bell, saying the idea for the fast-food hit was his. Gary Anthony Cole, 49, filed a federal lawsuit May 15 in Dallas against Taco Bell, which is owned by Irvine-based Yum Brands, and Frito-Lay, which owns Doritos, and Pepsi Co. Cole claims he created the idea for the Doritos Locos Tacos...

A Newport Beach man faces additional time in federal prison for his persistence in tricking people into believing he’s a lawyer, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Harold Goldstein, 64, was released from federal prison May 1 after serving a portion of his seven-year sentence and put on supervised probation. Goldstein had been convicted of mail fraud and making false declarations under oath that he was a lawyer, at one point stealing the identity of a Northern California attorney.

A Los Angeles man convicted in June for his involvement in an international identity theft scheme was sentenced to 76 months in federal prison, authorities said Wednesday. The man was arrested in 2011 by Costa Mesa police at South Coast Plaza. Doren Harold Ward, 37, used credit cards primarily of elderly victims and with the help of British co-conspirators had new credit cards sent to mail drops around Southern California, according to the U.S. attorney's office. After the credit cards were obtained, Ward and others bought luxury goods from stores, including Louis Vuitton, Ben Bridge Jeweler and Geary's in Beverly Hills.

BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS Costa Mesa man charged with fraud Federal authorities in Los Angeles have charged five people, including a 34-year-old Costa Mesa man, with wire fraud for allegedly helping people obtain loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, officials said Wednesday. The U.S. attorney's office has also charged 13 people of obtaining more than $10 million in fraudulent loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, officials said.

BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS FBI looking for fake attorney suspect A Newport Beach man who posed as an attorney to courts, lawyers and clients was indicted by federal authorities Thursday on two counts of making false declarations by telling a federal court that he was a licensed attorney, officials said. Harold Goldstein used the name of David Goldstein, a real attorney in Redwood City. FBI agents tried to arrest Goldstein on Thursday, but have not been able to locate the 58-year-old man, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.

BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS Former football player sentenced A 47-year-old Newport Beach resident and former Los Angeles Rams football player was sentenced Monday to a federal prison term for committing Internet fraud. A federal judge gave Kevin McLain 30 months, or 2 1/2 years, in federal prison on Monday for two separate Internet schemes stemming from fraud he committed at an online EBay auction site, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Elena J. Duarte in a press release.

Deepa Bharath A Newport Beach con man who allegedly masqueraded as an attorney and eluded FBI officials for almost a week was arrested Tuesday in Las Vegas, officials said. FBI agents had been looking for Harold David Goldstein, 58, since his indictment Wednesday on two counts of making false declarations by telling a federal court that he was a licensed attorney, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeannie Masse. Harold Goldstein used the name of David Goldstein, a real attorney in Redwood City, she said.

A Tustin man was sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison Wednesday for scamming more than 140 people, including a Newport Beach man, out of more than $20 million through a fraudulent investment business. James Halstead, 63, was sentenced to 121 months in prison and ordered to pay $14.5 million in restitution to his victims. Promising 25% to 35% quarterly returns, Halstead and Orange County attorney Jeanne Rowzee, 50, told victims they were investing in private entities and money market programs.

A Newport Beach contractor was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in federal prison for underreporting his income by about $2 million. Over a five-year period, Jeremy Scott Levine, 42, gypped the government out of about $300,000 in tax revenue, according to a news release from the Internal Revenue Service. U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow ordered Levine — who owns Newport-based JSL Construction and Landscaping — to pay an $80,000 fine to the federal government in addition to $300,000 in restitution to the IRS. Levine admitted cashing customers' checks without reporting the income on his personal or corporate tax returns between 2006 and 2010.

Many an inebriated college student may have thought about how good tacos wrapped in a Doritos shell would taste, but a prison inmate is suing Irvine-based Taco Bell, saying the idea for the fast-food hit was his. Gary Anthony Cole, 49, filed a federal lawsuit May 15 in Dallas against Taco Bell, which is owned by Irvine-based Yum Brands, and Frito-Lay, which owns Doritos, and Pepsi Co. Cole claims he created the idea for the Doritos Locos Tacos...

The president of a Santa Fe Springs company pleaded guilty Monday to illegally distributing human growth hormone, federal authorities said. David Ji, 50, admitted that his company had distributed a Chinese manufactured drug that contained somatropin -- a human growth hormone product not approved for distribution in the United States. Ji, a businessman from Irvine, pleaded guilty to one felony count of distributing prescription drugs in interstate commerce without a proper license, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

A man accused of stealing a nearly $1.4 million tax return check from billionaire Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren pleaded guilty Monday to one count of bank fraud. Federal prosecutors say Moundir Kamil, a 41-year-old convicted bank robber, obtained Bren's Social Security number, date of birth and other personal information and opened an account in Bren's name in February 2010 at an East West Bank branch in Cerritos. Bren, a 79-year-old real estate tycoon, is listed as Forbes' 64th richest person in the world and has an estimated net worth of $12 billion.

After he gets out of prison in two years, a Newport Beach man recently convicted for his part in an international drug-trafficking ring will serve five years’ probation and be prohibited from getting any job with access to a wireless device, court records show. Nathaniel Garrard Lineham, 41, was convicted in February of being the electronics man who distributed encrypted cell phones for a drug ring that stretched from Canada to Southern California, Chicago and Seattle. In 2008, authorities indicted 18 people as part of “Operation Candystore,” a two-year federal investigation into a trading operation that sent cocaine to Canada in exchange for methamphetamines and Ecstasy.

. CORRECTION: Halstead was sentenced to 121 months, not years. A Tustin man was sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison Wednesday for scamming more than 140 people, including a Newport Beach man, out of more than $20 million through a fraudulent investment business. James Halstead, 63, was sentenced to 121 months in prison and ordered to pay $14.5 million in restitution to his victims. Promising 25% to 35% quarterly returns, Halstead and Orange County attorney Jeanne Rowzee, 50, told victims they were investing in private entities and money market programs.

A Newport Beach man faces additional time in federal prison for his persistence in tricking people into believing he’s a lawyer, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Harold Goldstein, 64, was released from federal prison May 1 after serving a portion of his seven-year sentence and put on supervised probation. Goldstein had been convicted of mail fraud and making false declarations under oath that he was a lawyer, at one point stealing the identity of a Northern California attorney.